The dog days of spring are here! And that means three things: Sunny days, sweltering heat, and stinky artificial grass. That last one’s a doozy. 😵
But today’s your lucky day because we’re walking you through four best practices to keep your artificial lawn smelling clean—even when it’s hot and humid.
In one word: Maintenance
It should be no surprise that good-smelling artificial turf comes down to proper maintenance.
If you wait until your neighbours complain (or you pass out every time you have your windows open), then you’re setting yourself up for more work. (Think: Deep cleaning your lawn.)
Make daily upkeep a habit
I know, I know. Artificial grass was supposed to be less effort, so what’s the deal with cleaning every day?
The answer is pets. Reminder: They play, pee, and poo out there. Such “heavy use” means you must pick up, clean up, and hose down more often than households without fur babies.
💡 Our guide on how to care for your artificial turf after winter has more valuable tips!
Install a sprinkler system
Washing your turf down is a vital part of lawn care. (You don’t want your doggy’s pee drying up and leaving uric acid crystals behind.) But what if you are out most of the time or too tired to “garden” when you get home?
Then it’s high time to consider setting up an automatic sprinkler system to do the job for you.
Use an enzymatic turf cleaner
Did you know spring humidity aggravates unpleasant odours? We’re not just talking about garbage but biological waste in general. Newsflash: That includes Fido’s wee!
Urine shouldn’t be a problem. Except a pet has got to go when a pet has got to go, and, most of the time, it's on your synthetic grass. Translation: Fido's pee drains into the rock and sand underlay. Next thing you know, your beautiful backyard reeks like a gas station urinal.
The stench can get pretty lethal—unless you eliminate said odours at the source with an enzyme-based cleaner.
We recommend the one-two punch delivered by this Super Concentrate Duo Pack. E.N. Zyme Solution Stain & Odour Remover tackles offensive smells; Outdoor/Turf Disinfectant goes to war on germs, bacteria, and viruses. Indeed: One purchase to rule them all!
Do a routine check for dead critters
Know what else can be causing your artificial turf to stink? Dead animals. While you no longer have to worry about rodents burrowing into your backyard, there’s still Fido’s instinct to hunt down prey. Say, low-flying birds.
If you don’t regularly inspect your turf, you wake up one day to the smell of a decomposing animal. Hidden, of course, in some corner of your backyard. 🤫
A quick word about "stubborn" pet urine
We said an awful lot about pee in this post. But why is it such a big deal? First, pet urine is the #1 reason synthetic turf stinks. Second, it does not play nice with heat or humidity.
Allow us to get a bit sciencey for a moment.
Normal pet urine is around 95% water. The rest comprises urea, uric acid, and ammonia—among other things like minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and more.
When pee dries, it leaves behind uric acid crystals. These crystals are not water-soluble; they do not dissolve no matter how much water you use. They can only be broken down by the types of enzymes found in our non-toxic cleaning products.
Equally, salts in uric acid residue attract moisture.
That means urine remnants essentially absorb atmospheric water vapour and then, when that moisture evaporates in the spring heat, release ammonia gas all over again!
Finally, moisture traps odour-causing molecules. And because humid air is heavy, smells linger for longer.
Put it all together, and you get this never-ending cycle of malodour, increasing in concentration and intensity until it cannot be ignored anymore.
That's why maintaining your artificial lawn with an enzymatic turf cleaner is the only way to keep it smelling fresh and clean throughout spring.
